Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, 62, was
arrested
on Wednesday in Claygate, Surrey in southern England on suspected
assault "in connection with a domestic incident." Wood was
released on bail after questioning on Thursday until January pending
further inquiries. He separated from his wife in 2008 with
his divorce granted last month. Wood's relationship with 20
year-old Russian Ekaterina Ivanova has been widely reported as a reason
for his divorce.
Bang Tango vocalist Joe LeSte was reportedly taken ill prior to their
scheduled performance on Nov. 25th in Chicago. A statement as
to LeSte's health was released: "Without going into detail, I
can tell you without reservation that Joe is very much is alive and
well. He is currently stable and recovering in Chicago as I
type this. I would like to thank everyone that came out to
the shows during the past two weeks as well as the D'Molls for making
the run a blast!" Recording of their new studio album was to
start on Jan. 2nd.
David Hasselhoff was released from Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical
Center on Friday after allegedly suffering from a seizure at his
California home two days before. According to his lawyer,
"David is home now and he's fine."
Heaven & Hell drummer Vinny Appice underwent surgery on his
right shoulder on Monday for an injury he sustained during the band's
last tour. Appice's surgeon expects him to be playing again
in about 5 months. This may be the perfect time for the
surgery as vocalist Ronnie James Dio has just started treatment for
stomach cancer and guitarist Tony Iommi is recovering from stem-cell
treatment on his hand.
Twisted Sister guitarist Eddie Ojeda is recovering from emergency back
surgery to repair a ruptured disc which prevented him from performing
at their concert near Philadelphia. Ojeda hopes to rejoin the
band on stage on Sunday night in New York City. Meanwhile,
Twisted Sister will be featured on the Dec. 6th episode of
A&E's Private Sessions. Host Lynn Hoffman will talk
to the band, feature an exclusive performance and a guest appearance by
Lita Ford.
Vocalist Paul Rodgers was honored with an honorary Doctor of Letters
degree by Teesside University on Nov. 27th.
Stevie Wonder has been appointed as a U.N. Messenger of Peace with a
special focus on people with disabilities.
Dire Straits were honored on Thursday with a Music Heritage
Award. A special plaque was erected at Farrer House on Church
Street in Deptford, London -- a place where the original group shared a
council flat and performed their first gig in 1977.
Former Black Sabbath bandmates Ian Gillan and Tony Iommi have written
their first new song together since the release of Black Sabbath's 1983
album, Born Again. According to Gillan, they may put together
a charity band with a few other musicians. Armenia's Prime
Minister recently awarded both the artists with their Orders Of Honor
for their participation in Rock Aid Armenia in 1989.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Anvil! The Story Of
Anvil was named best music documentary by the International Documentary
Association on Monday in advance of their awards ceremony this week.
The nominees for the 52nd annual Grammy Awards have been
announced. Stevie Wonder is up for Best Male Pop Vocal
Performance (for "All About The Love Again.") Bon Jovi's "We
Weren't Born To Follow" and Daryl Hall & John Oates' "Sara
Smile" are up for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With
Vocals. Rosanne Cash & Bruce Springsteen's "Sea Of
Heartbreak" and Willie Nelson & Norah Jones' "Baby, It's Cold
Outside" are up for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals. Herb
Alpert's "Besame Mucho," Bela Fleck's "Throw Down Your Heart" and
Marcus Miller's "Funk Joint" are up for Best Pop Instrumental
Performance. Hiroshima's Legacy, Booker T. Jones' Potato
Hole, The Rippingtons featuring Russ Freeman's Modern Art and Spyro
Gyra's Down The Wire are up for Best Pop Instrumental Album.
Madonna's "Celebration" is up for Best Dance Recording. The
Pet Shop Boys' Yes is up for Best Electronic/Dance Album.
Tony Bennett's A Swingin' Christmas, Harry Connick, Jr.'s Your Songs,
Liza Minnelli's Liza's At The Palace and Willie Nelson's American
Classic are up for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. Bob
Dylan's "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'," John Fogerty's "Change In The
Weather," Prince's "Dreamer," Bruce Springsteen's "Working On A Dream"
and Neil Young's "Fork In The Road" are up for Best Solo Rock Vocal
Performance. Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood's "Can't
Find My Way Home" and U2's "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight"
are up for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With
Vocals. AC/DC's "War Machine," Alice In Chains' "Check My
Brain" and Metallica's "The Unforgiven III" are up for Best Hard Rock
Performance. Judas Priest's "Dissident Aggressor," Megadeth's
"Head Crusher," Ministry's "Señor Peligro" and Slayer's
"Hate Worldwide" are up for Best Metal Performance. Jeff
Beck's "A Day In The Life," Booker T. Jones' "Warped Sister," Brian
Setzer Orchestra's "Mr. Surfer Goes Jazzin'" and Steve Vai's "Now We
Run" are up for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Pearl
Jam's "The Fixer," U2's "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" and
Bruce Springsteen's "Working On A Dream" are up for Best Rock
Song. AC/DC's Black Ice, Eric Clapton & Steve
Winwood's Live From Madison Square Garden and U2's No Line On The
Horizon are up for Best Rock Album. David Byrne &
Brian Eno's Everything That Happens Will Happen Today and Depeche
Mode's Sounds Of The Universe are up for Best Alternative Music
Album. Charlie Wilson's "There Goes My Baby" is up for Best
Male R&B Vocal Performance. Robert Randolph &
The Clark Sisters' "Higher Ground" is up for Best R&B
Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals. Charlie Wilson's
Uncle Charlie is up for Best R&B Album. Beastie Boys
& Nas' "Too Many Rappers" and Eminem, Dr. Dre & 50
Cent's "Crack A Bottle" are up for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or
Group. George Strait's "Living For The Night" is up for Best
Male Country Vocal Performance. Carrie Underwood &
Randy Travis' "I Told You So" and Lee Ann Womack & George
Strait's "Everything But Quits" are up for Best Country Collaboration
With Vocals. Steve Wariner's "Producer's Medley" is up for
Best Country Instrumental Performance. George Strait's Twang
is up for Best Country Album. Peter Kater, Dominic Miller,
Kenny Loggins & Jaques Morelenbaum's In A Dream and Kitaro's
Impressions Of The West Lake are up for Best New Age Album.
Randy Crawford & Joe Sample's No Regrets is up for Best Jazz
Vocal Album. Gary Burton, Pat Metheny, Steve Swallow
& Antonio Sanchez's Quartet Live and Chick Corea & John
McLaughlin Five Peace Band's Five Peace Band -- Live are up for Best
Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual Or Group. Vickie Winans'
How I Got Over is up for Best Traditional Gospel Album. Bob
Dylan's Together Through Life, Levon Helm's Electric Dirt, Willie
Nelson & Asleep At The Wheel's Willie And The Wheel and Lucinda
Williams' Little Honey are up for Best Americana Album. Jim
Lauderdale's Could We Get Any Closer?, Steve Martin's The Crow: New
Songs For The Five-String Banjo and Michael Martin Murphey's Buckaroo
Blue Grass are up for Best Bluegrass Album. Ramblin' Jack
Elliot's A Stranger Here, The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band featuring Rick
Vito's Blue Again and John Hammond's Rough & Tough are up for
Best Traditional Blues Album. The Robert Cray Band's This
Time and Mavis Staples' Live: Hope At The Hideout are up for Best
Contemporary Blues Album. Tracy Chapman's Our Bright Future,
Elvis Costello's Secret, Profane & Sugarcane and Steve Earle's
Townes are up for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Gregory
Isaacs's Brand New Me is up for Best Reggae Album. Bela
Fleck's Throw Down Your Heart: Tales From The Acoustic Planet Vol. 3 --
Africa Sessions is up for Best Contemporary World Music
Album. Ziggy Marley's Family Time is up for Best Musical
Album For Children. Spinal Tap's Back From The Dead and
"Weird Al" Yankovic's Internet Leaks are up for Best Comedy
Album. 9 To 5: The Musical is up for Best Musical Show
Album. Twilight is up for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album
For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media. Milk
(composed by Danny Elfman) is up for Best Score Soundtrack For Motion
Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media. Bruce
Springsteen's "The Wrestler" is up for Best Song Written For Motion
Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media. Spinal Tap's Back
From The Dead and David Byrne & Brian Eno's Everything That
Happens Will Happen Today are up for Best Recording Package.
Jane's Addiction's A Cabinet Of Curiosities and David Byrne &
Brian Eno's Everything That Happens Will Happen Today are up for Best
Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package. T-Bone Burnett is
up for Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical. Depeche Mode's
"Wrong" is up for Best Short Form Music Video. Johnny Cash's
America and Anita O'Day -- The Life Of A Jazz Singer are up for Best
Long Form Music Video.
Michael Jackson's This Is It soundtrack fell 4 places to #11 on the
Billboard 200 albums chart. Glee Cast's Glee: Season One: The
Music Vol. 1 dropped a spot to #18. Bon Jovi's The Circle
fell 3 places to #22. Sting's If On A Winter's Night...
dropped 4 spots to #29. Michael Jackson's Number Ones climbed
7 places to #30. Paul McCartney's Good Evening New York City
dropped 15 spots to #31.
Reba McEntire's "Consider Me Gone" retained the #39 spot on the
Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
Depeche Mode's "Perfect" climbed a spot to #1 on the Billboard
Dance/Club Play Songs chart. Janet Jackson's "Make Me"
climbed 8 places to #6.
Queen's Absolute Greatest dropped a spot to #4 on the U.K. Albums
chart. Rod Stewart's Soulbook held steady at #14.
Michael Jackson's This Is It soundtrack climbed 4 places to
#15. Foo Fighters' Greatest Hits dropped 3 spots to
#20. Dame Shirley Bassey's The Performance climbed 16 places
to #21. The Carpenters' 40/40 dropped 5 spots to
#26. Janet Jackson's The Best debuted at #28.
Fleetwood Mac's The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac fell 3 places to
#29. UB40's Best Of The Labour Of Love debuted at
#30. Enya's The Very Best Of Enya debuted at #32.
Them Crooked Vultures dropped 20 spots to #33.
Whitney Houston's "Million Dollar Bill" retained the #28 spot on the
U.K. Singles chart.
Midge Ure will be launching a new independent music Web site,
Tunited.com, early next year. In an effort to find 100 great
independent artists to join in the launch, they are holding a
competition asking the musicians to upload a song to the site by Dec.
11th for consideration. A panel of experts including Ure will
choose 100 of the top artists to have their entire music catalog
included on their site before launching.
Frontiers Records have announced that Asia are in the recording studio
working on their second reunion album with producer Mike
Paxman. Hopes are to finish work on it in February and
release it in the spring.
Madness has released their third single, "Forever Young," from their
latest album, The Liberty Of Norton Folgate in CD, MP3 and 7" vinyl at
their Web site's Madshop.
Coil have made a special pre-order of their live 14-DVD box set, Colour
Sound Oblivion, available in a limited 200 copy run (with all sorts of
exclusive extras.) Funds raised from those sales will help
finance the release of the standard version of the boxed set.
Purchases can be made at www.brainwashed.com/coil/
Buzz have plans to release a new live EP, Cybercash, shortly via their
MySpace page which features 8 tracks recorded at the Aligre FM in Paris
earlier this year.
Omnibus Press have published a new book, Spray Paint The Walls: The
Story Of Black Flag, by Steve Chick. The book follows the
band's 8 years together through exclusive interviews with the group's
members, their contemporaries and the bands they inspired.
Sananda Maitreya has announced that he's hard at work on some new music
(as well as writings) and expects to make an announcement soon.
In the wake of the devastating flooding in Cumbria (North West of
England), hometown band It Bites has brought together members of Asia
(John Wetton and Geoff Downes), Marillion, Howard Jones and several
others to record a cover of It Bites' 1986 hit, "Calling All The
Heroes," which will be released in the next two weeks as an E.P. with a
video in support of relief efforts in the area.
Keel will release their new studio album, The Streets Of Rock &
Roll, on Feb. 9th (and Jan. 29th in Europe) via Frontiers Records.
Ricky Martin had a huge scare while returning to Miami from a weekend
in Puerto Rico. Upon takeoff, a loud noise came from the rear
of the plane followed by a brutal heat. The cabin had
depressurized and they flew for 45 minutes to burn fuel. They
landed alright and everyone is fine.
Kylie Minogue will release a new download-only concert album, Kylie
Live In New York, on Dec. 14th. The 25-track collection was
recorded during her performances at the Hammerstein Ballroom earlier
this fall during her tour. iTunes customers will receive 3
bonus tracks. YouTube will be running a 1-hour audio stream
of the performance starting at midnight (U.K. time) on Dec. 12th and
will be available for 24 hours.
Rage will release their new studio album, Strings To A Web, on Feb. 5th
via Nuclear Blast. Their new song, "Into The Light," can be
previewed at their MySpace page.
The Who will release, Greatest Hits, a new 19-track compilation on Dec.
21st that will span their entire recording career to date (1964 to
2006.)
A feature film, tentatively titled You Really Got Me, about the Kinks
is in the works. Directed by Julien Temple, the film will
explore the love-hate relationship between bandmates and brothers, Ray
and Dave Davies.
Drive She Said have been signed it a new deal with AOR
Heaven. The first release in the deal will be a 'best of'
collection due out in May that will include a few new songs.
Jimmy Buffett recently told Billboard.com about his 28th studio album,
Buffet Hotel, on Dec. 9th. The album will include, "Surfing
In A Hurricane," the first surf rock song he's ever written.
He also has a "rock 'n' roll" novel called Mudbath in the works as well
as a collection of short stories set in the Pacific.
Ministry, John Mellencamp, Trent Reznor, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tom Waits
& Kronos Quartet and Josh Groban with Neil Young are among the
artists featured on the 22-track collection Bridge School Volume 4 that
has been recently released via iTunes. Meanwhile, Ministry's
Al Jourgensen has seen, "It's Always Christmas Time," his new
collaboration with Mark Gemini Thwaite released via Amazon, iTunes and
the 13th Planet web-store.
Michael Jackson's This Is It concert film will head to stores on DVD
and Blu-ray on Jan. 26th via Sony Pictures Home
Entertainment. Each disc will come with 90 minutes of extras
including 2 documentaries.
Almost 5 years in the making, Arcangels have released a new DVD/CD,
Arcangels: Living In A Dream, which features their Live At Stubbs
performance, 3 new studio tracks and full-length documentary.
It can be purchased at their Web site store.
Julian Lennon is preparing his new studio album for a spring
release. Until then, fans will have his 4-track EP featuring
the charity single "Lucy" to pass the time.
R.E.M. spent 3 weeks of November working on their new studio album in
New Orleans and are taking some time off with plans to resume work
sometime next year. A few short movies were shot by Michael
Stipe during the sessions and you can see them on the R.E.M. YouTube
channel.
10Musica.com reports, AC/DC are filming their 3 sold-out performances
at the River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aries, Argentina, ending Dec. 6th
for future DVD release. Meanwhile, their No Bull DVD heads to
stores next week.
Former Trapeze, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath vocalist/bassist Glenn
Hughes will release his autobiography in 2010 that will include an
introduction by Metallica's Lars Ulrich.
George Michael will be releasing his 23-track (plus 3 bonus tracks)
double-DVD or Blu-ray disc, Live In London, on Dec. 8th via Epic
Records/Sony Music Entertainment.
In an recent interview with Undercover.com.au, Roger Hodgson has said
that a Supertramp reunion is unlikely. "We've looked at it
and talked it over. I have looked at it many times.
It is hard to reinvent us. I would never say never but Rick
(Davies) has pretty much retired right now and I'm in the prime of my
life. The reaction I am getting from fans is "please don't
reunite." I think a lot of the magic and spirit that people
think they would see at a Supertramp reunion they are actually getting
at my shows now. I feel the reunion I am having with my
audience and it feels really good."
Was Non Was will release a new 19-track compilation, Pick Of The Litter
(1980-2010), on Feb. 23rd. The album will include their hits,
a remix of "Shake Your Head" with Ozzy Osbourne and Kim Bassinger,
collaborations with Leonard Cohen and Mel Torme and several other
oddities.
Tangerine Dream will release a few new products this month via their
online EastGate Shop including Rocking Out The Bats: Live In Berlin
2009 on DVD, The Epsilon Journey: Live In Eindhoven 2008 on Double-CD
and the Booster III double-CD. A link to their store can be
found at www.tangerinedream.org.
Slash has updated fans to his album progress via Twitter.
"Driving around listening to the analog mixes of my solo record, I
gotta say it sound awesome. The whole self-titled record was
recorded analog. It will be released March/April.
Tour starts around then too. It will be released in all
formats, including vinyl."
A new 10-disc box set capturing 60 years of Atlantic Records has been
released under the title Atlantic Records Time Capsule.
Containing 9 CDs, a DVD, a book and a 7" vinyl, the set includes 24
songs from the 1980s starting with the Grammy-winning "Birdland" by
Manhattan Transfer and ending with Alannah Myles' "Black Velvet."
Bachman Turner have scheduled a press conference for Dec. 8th where
they will announce details of their new album due out in the fall and
tour plans.
Johnny Marr will reportedly write the score to the upcoming film, The
Big Bang, starring Antonio Banderas and Snoop Dogg.
Too Much Joy have taken their battle with Warner Bros. over royalties
to their Web site. Check out
http://www.toomuchjoy.com/?p=1397 (it may have some offensive
language.) The post is a good look at the internal accounting
in the digital age for some recording artists. Meanwhile, TMJ
bassist/vocalist Sandy Smallens and drummer Tommy Vinton have a new
band, Surface Wound, have released their debut album, The Kids Are All
Gone.
Bon Jovi will be the musical act appearing on NBC's Saturday Night Live
on Dec. 12th.
Alan Parsons Project co-founder vocalist/keyboardist Eric Woolfson, 64,
died of cancer on Wednesday in London. The band scored 11
hits on the Billboard Hot 100 charts during the 1980s before disbanding
in 1990. Woolfson has since worked as a producer and composer
of musicals and his current musical production of Edgar Allan Poe is
running in Berlin.
Bluegrass bassist and vocalist Jack Cooke, 72, died on Tuesday in his
hometown of Norton, Virgina, after collapsing in his home.
Cooke began his career playing with the Clinch Mountain Boys in 1970
and would continue to be a long-time collaborator of Ralph Stanley's
(recording on The Stanley Brothers' 1981 album, Shadows Of The Past,
and Stanley's 1987 solo release, I'll Answer The Call.) He
recorded with Stanley, Keith Whitley, Bill Monroe, Mike Seeger, Jim
Lauderdale, Marty Stuart, Bob Dylan and George Jones. Cooke
performed on the 2002 Grammy-winning album, Lost In The Lonesome Pines,
by Lauderdale and Stanley.